Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by WMBierguy:

The beer pours out a pale golden yellow, with a thick, bright white head of foam. The foam lasted throughout the beer and left significant lacing throughout the glass. The taste was a bit disappointing; for a 7.5% beer, I found the flavor to be a bit weak and watery. Maybe I was expecting this to taste like a trappiste ale. Overall this was a decent beer, but not the greatest example of Belgian quality. Try it if you find it, but don't go out of your way looking for it.

More User Reviews:

This is a nice simple Belgian Pale Ale. A nice drinkable alternative to the times when you don't want an overly complex, rich full BSPA. Decent, good, solid, but not "out there". Traditional golden color with a nice white head that leaves lots of lace. Aroma of candi sugar and light spices. Flavor follows through. A little acidic in the ending, but still nice enough.

I think the best part is the mouthfeel- it just feels good in the mouth. Alcohol bite is stronger than it should, though.

A: Cloudy golden color with a great looking 2 finger fluffy white head that sticks around quite nicely.

S: Smells yeasty, wheaty and fresh. Actually, it smells refreshing.

T: While relatively simple and light, I like this one. A delicate grassy sweetness with touches of banana - maybe a bit of orange too. Some toffee sweetness. Wheat character also. Simple - but enjoyable and very refreshing.

M: Light and delicate mouthfeel for the alcohol, with a nice creaminess both from the body and the head.

D: Extremely drinkable. One bottle is not enough.

Maybe they improved the recipe or something, as I definitely find myself in the minority of those who actually liked this one.

Pours a cloudy straw yellow to gold color with a lot of sediment floating around, and a 1/2 inch creamy off white head; I was surprised that the head was so small and did not last very long, but I was swirling the bottle to kick up any yeast at the bottom which may have cut it down a bit. Smells of yeast, banana, clove, apple, sweet alcohol like a sherry, spices and sweet malt. Aroma is unusually sweet, especially for a Belgian Blond.

Tastes very sweet and malty up front, with caramel followed by apple, yeast, grass, honey, light spices and alcohol that's wine-like or bordering on sherry or brandy; the next wave of flavor includes orange peel, sweet floral hops, maple syrup, brown sugar and provides a nice complexity. This is the sweetest Belgian Blond that I can ever recall tasting, and while it may not seem balanced I still think it is good. The normal yeast and grass flavors associated with the Belgian Blond ale class seem to be muted and allowing the sweet malt, fruit (coriander or orange peel) and even hop flavors to come through with a sugary sweet semi-dry finish. The one thing I didn't like in the finish was the metallic aftertaste that shows up 15 seconds after each sip is complete.

The mouthfeel is creamy, with very little carbonation that gives an almost crisp feel and goes down very easy to the point of seeming watery. The mouthfeel and easy drinkability contrast with the overall feel of the beer, which is more towards medium bodied. This almost tastes like a flat Belgian Ale, especially as it warms up, but I enjoyed this beer and would have another. It was average to above average in taste and the beer experience. The 7.5% ABV is well hidden and I would recommend trying this beer.

This is one of the least impressive tripels I've had. Poured into my St. Bernardus chalice to a very light and clear golden yellow color. Very little head, which recedes to a film almost immediately after pouring even despite the active carbonation.

The smell is quite different. Thin and soapy malt aroma. Smells like it's loaded with sweets. A little bit of a dry spiciness, but not enough to bring it to style.

The flavor is a little better, but not much. Very sweet candi sugar flavor up front, fading into a grainy pils malt flavor with a slight hop finish. Most definitely not dry enough, but the spiciness seems about right. Almost seems like it's on its way out, with a little hint of oxidization and copper in the finish.

The body is medium to full with a sharp carbonation. Much too sweet. I could not drink more than this one sample, and I'm even contemplating moving on to something else before I'm finished. Meh.

I have the feeling that the shop I bought the four-pack in has been sitting on this for a while. It looked great, fabulous head, nice lacing, but I was first alerted by the smell. Rusty blond was my first thought.

And the taste...blood. Yeah, no shit, blood. I took sip after sip with a blank mind, and I even washed my mouth out with water a few times. I think it tasted exactly like hoppy blood. I'm not saying that I didn't like it and my scores obviously reflect that, but it's really different. I tried not to judge it against other Belgian blonde ales (Grimbergen being my favorite), so when I viewed it objectively, I liked it for what it was. They call it a Double Blonde on the label so maybe "Double" in French means "Blood".

So, if you want to try something different or you're a vampire, go nuts.

Edit: After reading some other reviews, I'm getting the feeling that this doesn't get to us fast enough. I had a layer of dead yeast sitting on the top of my tulip, and others also noted a metallic taste. Who knows.

This is an odd one. Starts out like you would expect. Blonde/yellow body with large carbonation. White head leaves sticky lace.

The malt bill is wher this gets odd. There is an annoying metallic twinge with every pull but I got past that. Caramel is actually the dominant theme, its sticky and never leaves the palate. Hops are a savior as it combines with the alcohol splash to give this a nice edge.

Notes: Just ok. Tough category to stack up against. So many good belgian pale's and this wasn't one of them. Alcohol is welcomed sometimes but this was harsh and raw.

Bottle info is La Devine Belgian Double Blond Ale. I've had La Divine on draft a few times and it was a brown ale. This one is new to me and I guess to the board.

Very spicey aroma, like black pepper. Very malty nose, no hint of hops at all. Very fruity too, like candied orange maybe.

Very pale gold colored with a huge head. There is what looks like protein haze. Probably not yeast as the bottle sat undisturbed for a day and then poured very carefully. But there's definitely some flaky looking floaties.

Very sweet flavor. Kind of sugary, not really malty but there's a sweetness that's more like table sugar. Hop bitterness is very low and there's no hop flavor. But there are some interesting fruity fermentation character too. Threre's a metalic aftertaste that is pretty unpleasant. (I went back and bought another bottle to be fair, they both had this effect.)

Low bodied and biting carbonation. Feels way lighter than 7+%.

Overall I'm not liking it a lot. In addition to being overly sweet, the aftertaste is a distraction that keeps me from enjoying the beer.

Appearance: nice golden hue with a fair bit of haze and a strong effervescence. Head pours a finger of frothy white foam which leaves a lace as it dissipates. Pretty attractive

Smell: rich malt aroma with a little bit of a perfumey quality about it. Not bad, but it doesn't really pique my interest much.

Taste: malty flavor is a bit of a mess. There's a big bready, yeasty character to it, which isn't horrible but I feel like it's not a sign of quality. It is also rather sweet. Again, not terrible, if you're into this sort of thing; I've run into a lot of tripels with a similar quality to them. It's just not really my bag.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and creaminess. Not bad at all.

Overall: here's where I will express my distaste for the beer. It does not seem like something I'll want to drink again.

Taste: Starts out with a blend of clove, pepper and candi sugar that has a rough grainy edge that become more apparent and unpleasant by mid-palate; after the swallow, the medicinal and metallic flavors dominate into the finish, along with a very strong candi sugar sensation

Pours a murky dark honey orange with a foamy khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Thin rings of lace line the glass on the drink down. Tiny chunks of sediment are seen floating around the glass after the pour. Smell is of malt, grain, caramel, yeast, and honey aromas. Taste is much the same with sweet malt and medicinal spice flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an average beer that is fairly drinkable but the sweet and medicinal flavors I am getting from this one aren't so good.

Very thin, if truly any, head, more like a coat of white primer across the surface after some swirling and agitation, in keeping no lacing to speak of. Plenty of haze in the liquid but kind of sunshiny in its own way, really holds the light in there, sort of just ripe pumpkin yellow-orange hue, the translucency masks a lot of color definition. Wheat, wheat and more wheat permeates the nose, like a box of Wheaties, then honey dappled orange pulp, basic floral arrangement scents, at times close to graham crackers, drier malts, the peach, apricot, red apple fruit negligible, has a very pleasing lift and country airiness about it. Medium-bodied, the soft fluffiness of the carbonation helps fill the spaces between your tongue and your mouth roof. The wheat, sweet grain, even corn, flavors persist, light clove spice but no pepper or biting spice. Light banana and bubblegum join with the peach, apricot, watermelon fruit, nothing near undue sweetness. The malts seem to lend more textural smoothness and satiny feel than flavors. The hops quite tamed on the whole, the end sum being a beer which has good weight, ground coverage and a deep, if narrow, band of flavor. Would happily drink it again but would be hard pressed to seek it out.

A - Lightly hazed bright golden yellow. Thin white foamy cap quickly fades to just a ring around the glass. Very active bubbles quickly rising to the top.

S - Lots of spice up front with cracked white pepper especially noticeable. A light yeastiness underneath and then as the beer warms a somewhat off musty aroma comes through.

T - Strong yeasty taste up front but very unpleasnt. Becomes more stringent very quickly. Light spiciness of clove and pepper with underlying fruit tastes. Finishes with a weird tart/sour mix with a touch of mustiness. Just an all around weird (and poor) mix of flavors.

M/D - Light and crisp. The right feel for a Belgian pale, just not a great taste. It is very rare that I drain pour, but this is one of those times.

Taste too is sweet but less than the nose, a honey sweetness. Phenols carry into the flavor as well appearing at the base of the aftertaste which surprisingly is slightly dry and bitter. Light to medium bodied mouthfeel.cheersjd

Bright canary yellow with a static storm of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. The upper half of the glass is occupied by a head of cumulus cloud white that looks tremendous and is easily the best part of the appearance. Large sheets of cheese grater-like lace impress as well. Even if it turns out that it doesn't smell or taste amazing, this beer looks amazing. Divine even.

The nose isn't quite as wonderful. It's golden apple fruity with a sweetness and a gentle clove spiciness that I find appealing. It doesn't hold up as well on repeated sniffs, however. There's an undercurrent of something mildly unpleasant that I can't believe I didn't notice the first time I put my nose over the glass. Calling the aroma average is being kind.

How can a beer that looks this good taste this bad? Not bad exactly, but certainly not good. La Divine Blond (a Belgian Double Blond Ale according to the brewery) is a simple, 'by the numbers' effort that gets the numbers slightly out of order. There's no spark, nothing that grabs the taste buds and makes them pay attention.

Untoasted pale malt doesn't provide much in the way of flavor or sweetness. German hops provide a modest amount of bitterness and a token amount of sweetgrassy flavor. And finally, the Belgian yeast strain that has been chosen struggles to add anything more than a blip of ground clove. Neither the parts themselves, nor the sum of those parts is anything to write home about. Since I'm feeling generous today, I'll go with average here as well.

The mouthfeel is actually okay. It's somewhere within the 'medium' ballpark for the style with a slickness on the finish that is its defining characteristic. More carbonation would help give it a little more perkiness. Like the nose, the more I think about it, the less I like it. This is one of those beers that doesn't stand up to any sort of real scrutiny.

La Divine Blond is a simple, poorly constructed ale that can't compete with the second tier of BSPAs, much less the world's best. The painting 'The Birth Of Venus' by Botticelli is shown on the main label and the neck label. Venus may be a divine looking blonde, but she's also a dumb one if she takes after the beer brewed in her honor. Buy and drink at your own risk.

This is fairly simple and straightforward, but is very pleasant and has nice, full flavour.

Golden amber, lightly hazy, it has a medium-large, creamy off-white head shrinking very, very slowly to a thin, creamy, foamy top and some lace.

The aroma is grain, a little metal/mineral, lots of bread, hint of herbs, grapes, raisins, pear, and hay. It's a bt subdued but nice.

The taste is spicey-raisiny alcohol, smooth and flavourful, not harsh, with bread, grain, light fruitiness. It's a but on the sweet side with a warm spiciness and no real bitterness. It is slightly oily. This is the kind of Belgiam ale that some, and not without validity, complain reminds them of malt liquor. If so, however, that's primarily only because this is what malt liquor should taste like.

A - Pours a very hazy, deep golden color. head formation is strong, white, hanging around at 2mm. Has a bit of lacing. Bubbling appears light.

S - A combination of belgian yeast and some grainy malt notes. I detect some pilsner malts in particular.

T - Starts off sweet, two row malt and some pilsner. The pils is a nice complement, instead of a leader. Gets a bit dry in the midstream, with some spicy peppery notes. Grainy notes are present, almost husky. Finishes clean with pilsner malts.

D - Moderate drinkability - doesn't scream a easy drinker to me. Perhaps a one time refresher. The dryness gets a bit bothersome. Can be filling. ABV is well hidden, potent. I'd have one of these as a treat coming down on the deck after a hot summer day.